Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) needed a win in their final league match against defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) to make the IPL 2023 Playoffs but a brilliant century by Shubman Gill sent them crashing out of the Playoffs race. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), on the other hand, had sealed their Playoffs berth with a thrilling one-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday.
There is no love lost between Afghanistan and LSG pacer Naveen-ul-Haq and RCB batter Virat Kohli after their well-documented fight earlier this season. On Sunday, Naveen once against posted ‘cryptic’ Instagram story after Kohli’s century went in vain as GT emerged victorious by six wickets. Naveen’s post soon went viral on social media as fans clearly understood that the pacer was making fun of Kohli and RCB.
Check Naveen-ul-Haq’s Instagram Story HERE…
Naveen Ul Haq posted this video on his Instagram after RCB lost the match#RCBvsGT pic.twitter.com/FCaF41IMnM
— Gems of Shorts (@Warlock_Shabby) May 21, 2023
Kohli and Naveen were involved in a huge fight after their IPL 2023 league match in Lucknow which RCB had won. The RCB batter was also embroiled in another fight with LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir after the same match. Kohli and Gambhir were fined 100 per cent of their match fees while Naveen was fined 50 per cent of his match fees.
LSG teams have been regularly taunted with ‘Kohli, Kohli’ chants wherever they have played since them. Naveen was seen silencing the crowd even at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata during their last match against KKR. The incident unfolded during the second over of the KKR innings when Jason Roy, the English batsman, unleashed a barrage of boundaries against the Afghan pacer. The crowd, clearly backing Kohli, erupted in chants of “Kohli, Kohli,” causing a frenzy in the stadium.
In response to the thunderous chants, Naveen-ul-Haq held his finger to his lips, gesturing for silence from the crowd. Despite his attempt to quiet the uproar, the Kolkata Knight Riders’ home crowd continued to shower the pacer with Kohli chants, undeterred by his gesture.
It’s worth noting that this exchange is not the first of its kind. Gautam Gambhir, the mentor of the Lucknow Super Giants, had previously engaged in a similar gesture during a match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Meanwhile, RCB skipper Faf du Plessis expressed his disappointment after failing to make the Playoffs Stage. “Obviously very disappointing. We got a really strong team tonight, excellent innings by Shuman Gill. There was a lot of grip in the second innings. I thought 195-200 was a good score. We needed that wicket of Shubman,” Du Plessis said at the post-match presentation.
“From our batting perspective, our top four contributed really well… We missed a few runs consistently throughout the season, especially in the back-end of the innings. Perhaps in the middle (overs), we didn’t get as many wickets as we would have liked. We need a good middle order, and make sure we finish games off. Last season it was DK, but this season it wasn’t to be,” he added.